Since the current high school was finished in 1960, Wayland High School students have had over 50 years to create traditions. With the move to the new school approaching, questions have arisen about what will happen to these traditions and how they might change.

Bigger traditions such as Spirit Day, Winter Week and senior dress up day on Halloween will remain largely unaffected by the move, although they will face minor changes simply because of the design of the school. Some feel that these events are in need of changes anyway, and the new buildings will provide the opportunity.

“Improvements will be made,” said Principal Patrick Tutwiler. “I think the events will be a lot easier to do with the space and technology available in the new school.”

“Spirit Day needs a little bit of revamping. That will mainly be a job for the class of 2013,” said senior Eilif Mikkelsen, the student liaison for the high school building project.

Senior Assassin is one tradition that the move will greatly affect. The game requires competitors to get their opponents “out” by spraying them with water, which requires outside space, something the new school lacks in comparison to the current campus.

“There is not enough outdoor campus for it to happen,” said Dean of Students Scott Parseghian. “The whole school grounds will be off limits. Students can play out in the town or during their jobs but not during school. It will be up to students to find another way to play.”

But with events like Halloween or Spirit Day, the new school may hold the potential to help create an even bigger event.

“We might end up getting to decorate more, like decorate in the hallways, which we can’t do now because everything will blow away,” said Mikkelsen. “There is lots of room to string things through the cafeteria. It could evolve into a place to celebrate school spirit.”

The move is also a good opportunity for students to revamp current school traditions. One tradition that might get revamped this coming year is the run through campus for seniors on their last day of school.

“In my opinion, it’s lost its steam,” said Tutwiler. “I think it would be really cool if the senior class came together and thought of doing something new and different to celebrate their last day.”

The fate of smaller WHS traditions, like the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior sections in the Commons, is left in the hands of the students.

“I think traditions are something that emerge naturally and aren’t necessarily manufactured. When I look at the new building, I see a blank slate,” said Tutwiler. “In terms of what traditions students will bring from the current campus to the new one, I’m comfortable with students being in the driver’s seat.”

Mikkelsen notes that this “blank slate” of a school is a unique opportunity, especially for the senior class.

“We [seniors] have several months to define the new school. I don’t know who is going to lead that, but I think that there is a potential to do really cool things and set the benchmark for what the new school is going to become,” said Mikkelsen.

Potential ideas have already began to form.

“I’ve been thinking about how each class leaves their mark on the school,” said Parseghian. “We have these big brick grey squares in the patio, and classes could have one or two of these pavers engraved with a quote or a saying they voted on. They are all over the school and would be easy to pull out, engrave and put back in again.”

No matter what traditions get lost in the shuffle or emerge after the mountains of cardboard boxes clear, from Mikkelsen’s perspective, one thing is certain.

“There are plenty of opportunities to draw from this building and create new traditions, but the basic ideals behind the traditions we have now are not going to go away.”

Check out the rest of the stories in this In-Depth report, “Examining the culture shift in the new school.”